Oven-door-shifting mechanism



2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented July 13, 1920- l. D. THOMAS.

OVEN DOOR SHIFTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1918.

%m low I. D. THOMAS.

OVEN DOOR SHIFTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAYI. I9I8.

L346A7i. Patent d July 13, 1920.

Z SHEEIS-SHEEI 2.

UNITED STA'l' l E'. PATENT OFFICE.

IVOR D. THOMAS, OF LEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WELLMAN-SEAVER- MORGAN COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A. CORPORATION OF OHIO.

OVEN-DOOR-SHIFTING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 1, 1918. Serial No. 231,979.

To all whom it may concern:

e it known that I, Ivon D. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Oven Door- Shifting Mechanism, of which the followin is a full, clear, and exact description.

y invention relates to oven door shifting mechanisms and has for its chief object to provide a door shifting mechanism which is efiicient and simple in construction, and by which a door can be easily and quickly lifted from the door frame and moved laterally away from the door opening and readily restored in the frame to close the oven.

Still further the invention aims to provide an oven door shifting mechanism with improved shock absorbing and supporting connections bet-ween the reciprocating supporting ram and the head which carries the lifter or lifting lever.

Still further the invention aims to provide mechanism of the character and for the purpose stated having a single lifter which lifts and supports the door when removed from the door frame and allows it to tilt from a vertical position if necessary, together with a pair of door engaging devices which come into play when the door is being restored in the door frame, and press the door inwardly with substantially equal pressures, but which are relatively movable and permit the upper and lower parts of the door to be pressed inwardly without disturbing the substantial equality of pressures even though the door frame should be inclined from the vertical.

The above and other objects I accomplish by my invention, which may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings wherein I have shown an embodiment of my invention which operates with high efficiency, Figure 1 is a side view of that part of the door mechanism which especially involves my invention, a portion of the oven door being shown in section and a portion of the supporting frame of the shifting mechanism being likewise shown with the ram retracted as when the-door has been moved outwardly away from the door frame; Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the reciprocating supporting beam just at the rear of the head carrying the parts which directly engage the door to remove it from or restore it into the door frame; Fig. 3 1s a transverse sectional view substantially along the irregular line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Flg. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken through the supporting beam and associated parts of the supporting frame, the sectlon being taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a face view of the major portion of the door showlngra portion of the door frame.

he mechanism immediately involving the invention is preferably mounted on a truck or carriage which forms a part of the complete mechanism and is designed to travel back and forth along a track in front of one or more ovens usually a series arranged in a row in the well known manner.

The carriage may support only the door shifting mechanism, or there may be embodied in the same machine or unit, other parts such as the coke pusher and a coal leveler.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 represents a portion of the supporting frame which will be mounted in any suitable manner on the truck or carriage designed to travel along the track in front of the oven. This frame has a series of flanged rollers 11 on which is supported a beam or ram 12 designed to be reciprocated back and forth toward and from an oven. This beam for convenience may be termed the door moving member.

Preferably the beam is reciprocated by rack and pinion mechanism including a rack 13 on the lower side of the beam and a pinion 14 which engages the rack and is designed to be driven by a suitable motor supported on the frame.

At the front of the beam there is movably supported a so-called head 15 which may be termed the door supporting member and which is a casting-carrying the door lifter proper and other associated parts. The head 15 projects forwardly beyond the beam and is connected thereto so that it ma swing forwardly and rearwardly with re erence to the beam and this is accomplished by two pairs of substantially parallel arms 16 and 17, the rear set being-pivotally connected at 18 to the head and at 19 to the beam, and the forward set being pivotally connected at 20 to the head and at 21 to the beam. The lengths of the arms from the pivot points 19 and 21 to the pivot points 18 and 20 are preferably substantially the same, although I contemplate making the rear arms adjustable in the event itis desired to shift the normal position of the supporting axis of the lifter proper.

The head is pressed yieldingly forward to substantially the position shown, 71.6., to its normal positionfwith the arms 16 and 17 inclined forwardly'somewhat, through the medium of a shock absorbing spring 22 which surrounds I a bolt 23 extending through a downwardly extending ear or plate 24 on-the under side of the head and through an upstanding ear or plate 25 on the beam, the bolt being provided at its rear end with adjusting nuts 26.

At its forward end the head 15 is provided with an upstanding standard 27 at the top of which is pivoted to rock about an axis 28 a door lifter 29, the forward end 29 of which is designed to engage in the upper recessed part of a pocket formedby member 30 secured to and forming a part of the oven door which is shown at 31. A single lifter 29 is preferably employed, designed to be swung upwardlyto the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1 so as to lift the door slightly in the frame and to support it when the door is moved outwardly away from the frame, and to be swung downwardly to the dotted line position of Fig. 1 to release the door after the latter has been restored in the door frame.

It is not essential to my invention that the lifter b e motor operated, as it is common practice to shift the lifter or lifters by hand operated mechanism, but I prefer to operate the lifter through motor driven mechanism, and to that end I mount on the headat the rear of the standard 27 a gear inclosure 32 from which projects rearwardly an arm 33 supporting a motor, preferably an electric motor 34, which through a forwardly projecting shaft and form reducing gearing 35, in the gear inclosure 32, drives a transverse shaft 36 shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. This shaft has a spur pinion 37 which drives a gear 38, the pinion and gear being suitably inclosed, and the. gear being supported on a shaft at the front of the gear box or inclosure 32. The gear 38 has a crank pin 39 which is slowly turned or rotated by the motor when the latter is set in operation, and this crank pin is connected by an adjustable link 39" to the rear part or end 29 of the door lifter 29, the latter being in the form of a lever pivoted between its ends on the standard 27 as before stated. Thus by the rotation of the motor the lifter can be swung from door engaging and supporting position to releasing position and vice versa.

' It is desirable that the door he automatically locked in the frame when it is restored thereto and that it be automatically unlocked or unlatched when the lifter is raised to door engaging position. I therefore pivot at 40 at the lower front end of the head a latch bar lifter 41 which I connect to the forward part of the lifter 29 by an adjustable link 42, so that the latch bar lifter will be raised and lowered with the door lifter. This latch bar lifter is designed to raise and lower a transverse latch bar 43 adapted to be moved vertically in vertical slots of a pair of latch bar holders 44 carried by the door, so that the latch bar may be raised above or lowered behind a pair of stationary latching members 45 carried by the door frame 46 at each side of the door.

In addition to the parts above described, I provide a pair of door engaging members which are relatively movable and are designed to press the upper and lower parts of the door into the door frame with substantially equal pressures, although these members are capable of yielding relative to each other without substantially disturbing the equality of pressure in the event the door frame is not exactly vertical. These two members in this case include an upper roller 47 rotatably supported at the front end of the head 15, and a lower roller 48 located below and forwardly of the beam. This lower roller is actuated and partly supported by downward extensions 17 of the two forward head supporting arms 17 which downward extensions are of the same length as the upper parts of the arms. The lower ends of the arm extensions 17" are pivotally connected at 49 to a cross member 50 through which extends the bolt 51 surrounded by a shock absorbing spring 52 and connected at its forward end to a member 52 rotatably supporting the roller 48. In addition to the roller supporting and actuating parts above described, a swinging suspending link 53 connects the member 52 at the forward end of the bolt 51 to the lower forward part of the head 15.

The door lifting mechanism operates in the following manner: To remove the door from the door frame the beam 12 carrying the lifting mechanism is moved forwardly until the forward end of the lifter 29 enters the pocket 30. The roller 47 will engage the door and stop the forward movement of the head and prevent the forward end of the lifter 29 engaging the inner wall of the pocket, so as to avoid jamming the lifter against the inner wall of the pocket. Otherwise there would be difficulty in raising and lowering the lifter. VVnen the roller engages the door on the forward movement of the beam the head as a whole may yield relative to the beam due to the manner in which it is mounted and due to the action of the spring 22.

, When the lifter is inserted in the pocket it is swung upwardly by the motor 34 and the driving mechanism between the motor and the lifter, until the lifter slightly elevates the door in the door frame when the motor will be stopped. Then the beam will be retracted carrying the door out of the door frame with the door supported or suspended on the lifter, after which the machine may be moved along the track to carry the door laterally away from the door opening. At the same time that the lifter is elevated in the manner just explained, to cause it to move to door lifting position, the latching bar 43 is elevated so asto unlatch the door from the door frame and permit it to be moved out of the latter.

To restore the door, by proper movement of the machine the door will be positioned in front of the door opening, then the beam will be moved inwardly and the door will be inserted in the door frame. As the door strikes the door frame, the head will yield so as to absorb the shock, and as this occurs the swinging of the forward levers 17 moves the lower roller 48 forwardly. into engagement with the door, and now both rollers come into play, pressing the doorthe upper and lower parts thereof, into the door opening or frame, the pressures of both rollers 47 and 48 on the door being substantially equal, due to the equal lever arms between the pivot points 21 and 20, and 21 and 49. Should one part of the door stick, or should the door frame be inclined to the vertical, one roller may yield relative to the other by one moving inwardly, and the other outwardly slightly, but in spite of this, one roller will be pressed against the door with substantially the same pressure as the other. Thus excessive pressure on either door engaging part is avoided. This is of material advantage over a construction wherein there are two relatively rigid door engaging parts through which pressure is applied to restore the door. It will be understood that both shock absorbing springs 22 and 52 may come into play, allowing the rollers to yield when predetermined pressures are reached.

\Vhen the door is restored, the lifter 29 and the latch bar lifter 41 will be lowered by operating the motor 34, in which event the door will again be latched in position in the door frame and the lifting mechanism will then be backed away from the door.

It will be noted that the weight of the door when supported on the lifter 29, holds the head in the position shown in Fig. 1,

with the supporting arms 16 and 17 somewhat forwardly inclined. By reason of this arrangement, in restoring the door, when the door engages the door frame, the head not only yields or swings slightly in an outward direction relative to the beam, but inasmuch as the arms 16 and 17 are thus straightened, or moved to or toward vertical position, the head and the parts carried by it including the door, are slightly elevated. The elevating of this weight has a tendency to absorb the shock which may have resulted from the impact of the door frame, and this permits the use of a weaker shock absorbing spring 22 than would be required if all the shock were absorbed by the spring. This is likewise an advantage of considerable importance.

While I have shown the preferred construction, it will be apparent that certain changes may be made in details of construction and arrangement, and I aim in my claims to cover all modifications which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention in its broadest aspects. Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member, means for moving it toward and from the door, a second member carried by the door moving member and movably mounted thereon so that it may yield relative thereto on contact with and pressure against the door, and a lifter carried by said second member.

2. In a door shiftin mechanism, a door moving member, mova le toward and from the door, a second member mounted on said first member so that it may yield relative thereto on contact with and pressure against the door and having a device for engaging and lifting the door, said second member having a mounting on the first member such that when it yields relative to the first member under pressure against the door it is slightly elevated.

3. In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member movable toward and from an oven, a second member carried thereby and mounted to yield relative thereto on engagement with and pressure against the door said second member having a door engaging and lifting device, and means connecting said second member to the first member, said connecting means causing the second member to be elevated when it yields under pressure against the door.

4. In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member movable toward and from an oven, a second member carried thereby and mounted to yield relative thereto on engagement with and pressure against the door, said second member having a door lifting device, means connecting said second member to the first member, said connecting means causing the second member to be elesecond member impact with a door,

vated when it yields under pressure against head and said member for yieldingly resistin said relative movement, and a door 1i er carried by said head and adapted to engage an appropriate part of the door.

7 In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member movable forwardly and rearwardly toward and from an oven, a head movably connected to the forward end, of said member and adapted to yield relative to said member on impact Wlth' a door, a lifter carried by said head, and means for shifting said lifter.

8. In a door shifting mechanism, a door supporting member adapted to engage the upper part of a door, an abutment normally out of engagement with the door when the latter is supported by the supporting member, and means connecting said supporting member and abutment whereby on restoring the door to its frame the abutment will-be brought up against the door to press I the lower part of the door in place.

v9. In a door shifting mechanism, a member movable towardand from a door, a door supporting member mounted thereon so as to yield under pressure against the door, an abutment, and equalizing mechanism between the supporting member and abutment whereby the upper and lower portions of the a spring between said Lesa-aw.-

door will be pressed inwardly into the door ovens, a door moving member, a door sup-.

porting member carried by said first member for so that it may yield under pressure against the door,vsaid second member carrylng a lifting device for the upper part of the door, an abutment for the lower part of the door, and means whereby when said supporting member is pressed against the door with predetermined pressure, said abutment is brought up against the door' to press the lower part thereof into the door frame.

11. In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member movable toward and from the door, a door supporting member yieldingly carried thereby so it may yield under pressure against the door, an abutment for the lower part of the door and equalizin mechanism between said abutment and sai door supporting member, whereby when the door is being restored and said supporting member is pressed against the door with predetermined pressure, said-abutment will be pressed against the lower part of the door with substantially the same pressure.

12. In a door shifting mechanism, a door moving member movable toward and from a door, a door supporting member yieldingly carried by said first member so that it may yield under pressure against the door, a spring yieldingly opposing said movement, an abutment normally out of engagement with the door when the door is supported by said supporting member, and connecting mechanism between said supporting memher and, the abutment whereby when said supporting member is pressed against the door, said abutment is brought up to and is 'caused topress against the lower part of the door.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

IVOR n. THOMAS.- 

